


Under the Mistletoe AU

by campylobacter



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Car Accidents, Christmas, Cults, Divorce, F/M, Hockey, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/campylobacter/pseuds/campylobacter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the Changeling Alternate Universe mashed up with the Michael Shanks 2006 movie "Under the Mistletoe": Single mom Vala raises child hockey prodigy Adria as best she can, with a little match-making help from her co-workers at Coquitlam Fire & Rescue. A dashing stranger enters her life and makes her an offer she can't refuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Auto-Correct

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kehwie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kehwie/gifts).



> For the [Daniel/Vala 2012 Fruitcake Exchange at LiveJournal](http://dv-exchange.livejournal.com/), I think this really only qualifies as #6:  
> Prompts:  
> 1\. an evolution of Daniel and Vala's kisses under the mistletoe from year to year  
> 2\. the team discovers Vala has some sort of history/back story with Jonas Quinn (not romantic necessarily--just a "small world" kind of thing. Obviously it doesn't interfere with D/V!) ;)  
> 3\. Vala uses her unique skill set to save the team  
> 4\. some sort of sweet Christmas or holiday tradition for Vala or Daniel or Daniel/Vala  
> 5\. Cam being a protective "older brother" or friend  
> 6\. honestly, I'm pretty easy to please--anything is fine!
> 
> [Cover art by eilidh17 & magnavox_23 (click here to enlarge)](http://campylobacter.tumblr.com/post/38657731968/stargate-sg-1-fan-art-collaboration-by-eilidh17)   
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Vala faces a big change in her life, her teammates are there.

"Cameron, I emailed it to you an hour ago," Vala Mal Doran, High Angle Rescue unit member of Coquitlam Fire & Rescue, said before turning around to face Deputy Chief Cam Mitchell. His pleasant but unmistakable aftershave had preceded him.

"Um, yeah. About that." He cleared his throat. "Your report on that incident off Pipeline Road _kinda sorta_ has too many typos for me to submit to Chief Landry." He tossed a printout onto her tablet computer. The paper was covered in red-inked circles, one of which drew attention to "boobsicles".

"That was supposed to be 'icicles'," Vala cried. "I swear!"

"And, uh... that one?" He pointed to "epic penis".  
  
"EpiPen! 'I had to inject the hiker with an EpiPen.' For a severe reaction to spider bites. I'm a far better dictator, er, dictatrix, than that dictation software would have you believe."  
  
Another voice interrupted their conversation. "Cut her some slack, Cam. We're still working out the bugs in that voice-to-text app." Samantha Carter, also Deputy Chief, announced as she approached them. "The 4.9 version used semantic auto-correct before the update to 5.0 set the defaults to auto-import personal smartphone dictionaries."  
  
"See, Cameron? I was sabotaged by technology, I tell you!"  
  
"Ha. Your sexting habits busted you," he chuckled. "Go easy on the nog tonight at the Yuletide party." He snickered as he walked away. "And Landry needs to submit your corrected report to Regional Chief O'Neill in thirty minutes," he added over his shoulder.  
  
"There'll be neither nog nor grog for me," Vala sighed as Sam picked up Vala's tablet and changed its program settings. "The moving van's picking up the last of Tom's kit tonight now that the divorce is final. I want to be there to make sure he doesn't make off with my mother's bureau."  
  
"Oh. Bummer." Sam flashed a sympathetic smile. "Divorce can't be easy."  
  
"T" Murray, an Assistant Fire Chief, overheard them and approached. "Need me to hang out at your place and look mean?"  
  
"I can bring pizza!" Jonas Quinn piped up.  
  
"Don't give that wingnut a reason to hang around longer than necessary, Probie," T chided, with a joking reference to Jonas's former nickname as a probationary firefighter years before.  
  
"Hey, if his mouth is full, he can't quote the Book of Origin at us, can he?" Jonas replied.  
  
"You'd be surprised," Vala quipped. "But really, I'll be fine. I don't want Tom to use your presence as evidence for his child custody case; he accuses me of shagging the entire Fire & Rescue."  
  
Sam rolled her eyes. "Jeez, being flirty doesn't mean you're promiscuous."

"Bet you anything a wife working outside the home pisses him off more," T noted.

"Not to mention a woman working a 'man's' job," Jonas agreed, with ironic air quotes — a gesture he'd picked up during Jack O'Neill's tenure as Chief.

  
"You sure he's not gonna try anything?" T asked. "We got your back, you know."

Vala shrugged. "Like trying to convince me yet again to move with him into that scary Fellowship of the Ori compound? Absolutely no chance I'd agree to that."

"I just ran a couple text filters on your report," Sam announced, holding up Vala's tablet. "Just approve it, sign it, submit it, bug out now, and get home first."

"Thanks ever so much, dear Deputy Chief Carter." Vala hugged Sam and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll put something extra special in your stocking."

Sam's face turned a beautiful shade of deep pink.  


"What a flirt," laughed Jonas.

T nodded. "Truth." 


	2. Gifted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vala's life hits another turning point...

When Vala got home, she was shocked to find that a monster truck on jacked-up tires with two Origin members inside was parked in the driveway. She'd expected a professional moving van. Her ex-husband Tomin Verisca was in the living room, engaged in a tug-of-war over a hockey stick with her daughter Adria.

"Because it's unseemly for you to play on the boys' team, that's why," Tomin said as he gently pried the child's fingers from her hockey blade. "You are the Orici. You're destined for a higher purpose."

"I'm the starting right wing," the ten-year-old fumed, her brown eyes flashing fire. "My team needs me."

Vala stepped between them and gripped the stick. "Addi darling," she whispered, "we'll settle this. Go get your homework done now. We're going shopping tonight."

"This sucks!" Adria shouted, and stomped up the stairs.

"Such language." Tomin crossed his arms and fixed a disappointed gaze on Vala. "You've given up on her figure skating lessons, and suddenly now you're a hockey mom?"

Vala narrowed her eyes at him, and clutched the hockey stick close. "You've been absent from her life for over a year, and suddenly now you're interested in her after-school activities? I cannot believe you pulled her out of hockey practice early. How dare you humiliate her like that."

"Don't you care about her safety? What if she gets injured?" Tomin threw up his hands. "At least put her in girls' hockey where they don't allow body-checking." 

"She'll switch to a girls' team when she's ready, not when her mother is." Vala leaned the stick carefully in the foyer, next to the rest of her daughter's equipment. "She knows full well that's where the scouts look for talent."

"Her talents are not limited to athletics," he countered. "You know how gifted she is. Prophecy speaks of her: From One, all will learn."

"Take your boxes and leave, Tom. I told you I stored them in the garage. Go."

"I care not for material things." He indicated the truck outside. "It's not too late. You and Addi will discover the glory and truth of Origin, if only you'll denounce these pagan corruptions," he gestured dismissively at the holly, evergreens, and mistletoe decorating the house, "and embrace the power of the Ori."

"Go before I decide to press charges for pulling a gun on me while I was pregnant," Vala whispered. "Besides, I received the DNA test results last week. I can prove you're not her father, and you've no legitimate claim on her." 

"My name is on her birth certificate. She is of the Ori; she belongs among those who understand who she is."

"Out. Now."

He let out a huff of resignation and left. Vala feared that instead of closing a chapter in her book of life, she'd opened a new chapter in a horror novel.

* * *

"Giving to the needy only encourages them to depend on entitlements," Adria said to the man in a Santa suit ringing a bell in front of a glass donation sphere. The sidewalk was crowded with shoppers, some of whom had done a double-take at the girl's pronouncement.

"My little Ebenezer," Vala laughed apologetically, before dropping several toonies into the clear globe. She dreaded the return of Adria's zealotry when Tomin had shown up; after a year without him, she'd hoped that the child's indoctrination into the cult's teachings since birth had been forgotten. "Have sympathy for the less fortunate, Addi; we all have times in our lives when we need the kindness of others to survive. Merry Christmas." 

"Oh, look!" Adria exclaimed as she pointed to a pair of youth hockey skates on display in the window of a sporting goods store. "The ones with the stainless runner give the tightest turns on the ice."

"Seeing as you've outgrown the ones you got on your birthday, they may as well have your name on them." Vala patted her shoulder. "I'm truly sorry you were yanked off the ice today. But don't take out your anger on those who don't deserve it."

"I didn't do anything wrong, and it looked like I was being punished in front of the whole team."

"That's no excuse to behave badly. In fact, it weakens your case."

Adria pouted, but refrained from protesting further.

* * *

"Christmas trees are blasphemy," Adria exclaimed as they drove away from the tree farm with a 5-foot Noble fir strapped to the top of their SUV.

"Who told you that?" Vala asked incredulously. 

"No one. Christmas trees are mentioned nowhere within the Book of Origin." She held up a leather-bound book — one of several which Vala had packed into Tomin's boxes long ago. Brilliant. He'd unpacked one for her.

"Neither are hockey skates. Thank heavens you waited to bring up the subject now instead of in the middle of— what the hell!"

A truck which looked identical to the one that Tom and his Origin colleagues drove swerved into their lane and barreled straight into their path. Vala laid on the horn and veered toward the snow piled at the shoulder of the road, but the truck kept coming at them. 

In the squeal of brakes, the hideous sound of crunching metal, and the bright white flash of a deployed airbag, Vala lost consciousness.

* * *

Vala slowly opened her eyes to a bright fluorescent ceiling light. She felt weightless and woozy, but was able to hear the beeping of a vitals monitor.

"Hey," a familiar female voice spoke. "How you feeling, Val?"

She felt someone holding her hand. It sounded like Samantha Carter, but came from a woman dressed in a sexy black party dress, with honey-blonde hair caught into an elegant updo — not the familiar sight of a Deputy Chief in firefighting gear.

"Addi?" she croaked.

"I'm right here, Mother," Adria said from the other side of the bed. "I'm fine." She felt her daughter's hand on hers. Aside from a bandage on her right cheek and her right arm in a sling, Adria did look fine.

"You have a slight concussion and bruised ribs, but Doctor Fraiser says you'll recover in no time." Definitely Samantha's voice; she must've been all dressed up and at the Yuletide party when she was called away to the hospital.

"Truck," Vala groaned. "Monster truck. Tom."

Sam bit her lip and said through gritted teeth, "Hit and run."

Approaching footsteps came into the room. "Hey Sam. We just got more info from Quinn. He's still at the scene," another voice (male, American accent with a slight country drawl) spoke. "Somehow, the other vehicle was being remote-controlled." Cameron. He looked incredibly dashing in a dark grey suit and a deep blue shirt that set off his eyes. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty's awake. Good to see you in one piece, Val."

"Much love to my homegirl." The rich, deep voice of T drifted into her ears. He was also looking his handsome self, in a jacket and pumpkin-coloured crew neck. "No other drivers or passengers at the scene, no witnesses." 

"Landry's working with Superintendent Weir and the RCMP to get to the bottom of this." Cam was saying words, but Vala could only understand a few of them. She felt the pull of sleep draw her eyelids closed.

"I need to draw blood," another voice spoke.

"Sure. We'll get out of your way, Doctor Lam." Sam let go of Vala's hand. "Get some sleep, Val." The clack of high heels and dress shoes on hospital linoleum receded from her bedside.

After the doctor left, Vala heard her daughter's voice murmur more words, with little meaning: "Great holy armies shall be gathered and trained to fight all who embrace evil. In the name of the gods (blah blah blah) our warriors (blah blah blah) spread Origin to all the unbelievers (blah blah blah...)"

Vala let herself sink into a slumber where words couldn't reach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting what I can before I catch my plane in a few hours. Will upload the rest of the chapters throughout this week.


	3. Both Eyes Wide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving the past behind sometimes means staring it in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you haven't already noticed, I've used the Canadian English spellings for this story because it's set in Coquitlam, British Columbia instead of Colorado Springs, Colorado. (For the geographically challenged, that's Canada versus the USA.)

The next autumn, Vala was sorting through a box of holiday decorations that had surfaced after she'd given the last of Tomin's boxes to charity. Wrapped in layers of tissue was a jewelry case full of worthless trinkets her father had given her when she was about Adria's age. Next to it was an artifact from a happier time...

* * *

_"Don't get your hopes up too high, Addi," Vala had warned, "but it looks like your grandfather sent you something for your birthday."_   
  
_"But it's Cwissmiss." The teachings of Origin hadn't prevented the child from being aware of which retail season it was._   
  
_Vala shrugged. "Maybe it's been stuck in customs since February."_   
  
_Tomin looked at the address label. "From Kamloops to Vancouver? Less than four hours away and in the same province?"_   
  
_"The last I'd heard, he was selling timeshares in Newark, New Jersey. He can't remember anyone's birthday."_   
  
_"And are those martini glasses and cigars?" Tomin snatched a piece of gift wrap that Adria had ripped from her present and squinted at the design. The black and silver foil paper also had "Happy Birthday" spelled out in silhouettes of nude, buxom women._   
  
_"Ah," Vala sighed, "Jacek used the classy wrapping paper." She surreptitiously cleared away the rest of the torn-off paper and put it in the trash._   
  
_Adria looked in bewilderment at the box labelled "PVC elbow joint #1034-45-5"._   
  
_"What every child has on their wish list," Vala quipped._   
  
_"He wote somefing here."_   
  
_Vala squinted at a barely legible scrawl in smeared ball point ink gouged into the cardboard. "Priceless Waterford Cyrstel and Genuine Stardust."_   
  
_"What's dat?"_   
  
_Vala shook her head. "Not what it says on the tin."_   
  
_Adria needed help cutting through the wrinkled duct tape securing the box flaps, but squealed in delight when Styrofoam packing peanuts burst out and stuck to her sweater with static cling. The tube of glitter shavings didn't hold her attention for more than five seconds, but she was sufficiently awed after fishing out a neon pink glass bell. "It's booty-full!" This was one of the rare times Vala had seen her daughter act like a normal four-year-old instead of a somber, scripture-quoting cult member._   
  
_"I didn't know Waterford made that colour." Vala wished it had been a PVC elbow joint; those didn't shatter into dangerous shards when dropped._   
  
_The bell cracked after its third ring (which sounded more like a dull clank than a crystalline chime), but Adria became distracted by all the white packing peanuts and began throwing them into the air by the handful. "Snow! It's snowing! Wanna make snowmans!"_   
  
_Vala scrounged for wire twist ties and glue, and together mother and daughter cobbled together a wee lumpy snow-giraffe with sequin eyes and glitter spots._

* * *

The little makeshift figure Vala held in her hand looked a bit melancholy at having been forgotten for so many years, but it had endured when the glass bell hadn't.

  
"Mother!" Adria yelled from the kitchen. "I can't find my—"  
  
"On the floor in the bathroom."  
  
"And where's my—"  
  
"On the counter."  
  
After some rustling, Adria called, "Why peanut butter and jam?"  
  
"There's no more Kraft Dinner." Vala put away the giraffe and grabbed her car keys. "You ate the leftovers yesterday."  
  
"Today is Remembrance of Amica at the Hour of Bly." Adria left her lunch bag on the table. "I cannot eat leavened bread or sweetened foods until sunset."  
  
"Addi, if you keel over at hockey practice from this ridiculous religious fasting, do I get to say I told you so?" Vala slammed the front door with more force than she intended.  
  
"Dying in the service of the Ori is the highest honour, Mother. _'All who perish doing Their Will shall dwell forever with the Ori on the Plains of Enlightenment._ '"  
  
"One's thing's for sure," Vala mumbled as they got in the car, "you'll be the death of me."  
  
"What do you think will happen when you die?"  
  
"After three days, I shall rise again as a zombie and feast upon the brains of conformist zealots. Fasten your seatbelt, dear."  
  
"Why do you not believe the teachings of Origin, Mother?"  
  
Vala gripped the steering wheel as she merged onto the highway. This was not the conversation she wanted to continue during morning rush hour. "I refuse to allow dogma to determine what's right and wrong."  
  
"But why does Origin make you so angry?"  
  
"You're not old enough to understand why."  
  
"I'm eleven years old but I'm doing Grade Seven and Eight studies."  
  
"What I've suffered because of that cult is something you'll be able to figure out when you're ready. And it's why I would rather die before letting them get ahold of you again. Trust me on this."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"Precisely."  
  
They drove along in silence until the car pulled into the parking lot. "During prostration I shall ask the Ori to visit upon me tonight. Like Egidus of Vil Dare, I need to speak things that can only be spoken in the Light of the Fire."  
  
"Addi, Origin is a cult, and the Ori are figments of your imagination."  
  
"That's not true, Mother. 'Truth is elusive to those who refuse to see it with both eyes wide.'" Adria got out of the car without a backward glance.  
  
"Addi!"  
  
The girl took off at a dead run toward the building.  
  
Vala dashed out of the car. "Addi, wait! Here, take my lunch!" She'd barely handed her the bag before the girl had slipped through the front door. "I'll pick you up after hockey practice!" she called to Adria's retreating back.  
  
Out of sorts, Vala stomped back to the curb and yanked on the handle of the SUV. It was locked. "Oh, that's just great." She patted her pockets, despite knowing that her keys were still in the ignition. Her shift at the Fire & Rescue started in eight minutes. She unfastened her hair clips and began to jimmy the lock with them.  
  
"Excuse me, what the hell are you doing?" a male voice asked from behind her. She turned around to see a tall, attractive man wearing glasses and a suit jacket.  
  
"It's not any of your business," she retorted. "Move along."  
  
"Oh, you'd be surprised just how much it _is_ my business, lady." He stepped forward, drew himself up taller, and grabbed her wrist.  
  
Instinctively, Vala twisted her hand away from him and punched him in the face.  
  
"Ow!" The man covered his nose and grimaced. "Gah!" He glared at her with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. Bluer than Tomin's eyes. Bluer than even Jonas's or Cameron's or Samantha's eyes. Well, perhaps it wasn't the eye colour, but how very earnest (even in pain) she found the man.  
  
"Shall I kiss it better?" It might not soothe his pain, but kissing him certainly would make the rest of Vala's day less stressful.  
  
"Um..." His expression switched from looking affronted to looking genuinely undecided. "No," he finally answered. "Just don't do it again. Hey look, I'm sick and tired of punks breaking into my car and stealing my stereo and gloves and window scraper and spare change. How the hell do you think you can just steal my car in broad daylight?"  
  
"Your car? This is—" Vala blinked and stared at the SUV she was trying to break into. It was identical in colour, make and model to the one she'd driven in the collision with the monster truck in December. "This is, this is a coincidence. Oops." She let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Right over there: that's my new car." She pointed sheepishly to the hatchback next to his. "Er, new-ish but used. Yours looks like my old one. Bigger. Not that size matters."  
  
"Wha...?" He could only stand there with his mouth open in bewilderment, which made him look even more adorably dashing.  
  
"Actually, size always matters," she snickered, with an appraising look up and down his tall, muscular frame. He looked like some sort of athlete, and seemed to have suffered no permanent damage from her left hook. "It's been nice hitting on you, but I'm going to be late for work." She grinned, quickly side-stepped him, and got into her car.  
  
He stood at the curb with a pout of confusion as she drove away.

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, HUGE thanks to Eilidh & Mags for their artistic pixel-pushing, and undying thanks to oceania for lightning-fast beta-reading duty. MMMWAHH!


End file.
